Mixing valves in hot water heater systems are generally used to increase the hot water capacity of hot water tanks of the hot water heaters. By increasing the temperature of the hot water in the hot water tank, and then mixing the hot water flow from the hot water tank with cold water in a mixing valve, the realized capacity of the hot water tank is increased.
However, improvements could be made to presently known methods for controlling such mixing valves. For example, improvements to the response time for outputting a desired water temperature from a hot water heater that utilizes a mixing valve could be advantageous. Many presently-known mixing valves are operated by controllers which utilize proportional, integral and derivative gains and temperature tolerances. In some cases, such controllers and electronic mixing valves can enter oscillatory states.
Accordingly, improved hot water heater systems and methods for controlling electronic mixing valves are desired. In particular, improvements such as but not limited to reducing the range of movement of the valve would result in advantages, such as reduced wear on the valve, reduced temperature oscillation, decreased response time, improved mixing performance, and improved fault detection.